Month: April 2017

Following a thorough audit by the external auditor NQA, our London Road and Whiteknights campuses have been certified to the internationally recognised environmental standard ISO14001:2015.
The University has excelled this year in certifying for this revised standard and was awarded no non-conformities for its updated environmental management system (EMS).

The revised standard places an increased emphasis on leadership, commitment, continual improvement of environmental performance and ensuring the University is embedding sustainability into its core business.

The Vice Chancellor was interviewed by the auditors and demonstrated that there is commitment and leadership at the highest level.

The University was able to show that the EMS was effective by;

• Embedding environmental and sustainability into key business processes, e.g. via the Estate Strategy.
• Ensuring that sustainability is considered during the procurement process.
• Making staff aware of their collective and individual environmental impacts.
• Communicating areas of good practice and promoting the positive impacts that the University can and does have.
• Demonstrating continual improvement of environmental performance (35% carbon reduction and diverting 99% of waste away from landfill), as well as forward planning with long term strategic plans that take into account the influence of internal and external issues e.g. legislative changes, student population etc.
• Providing cost savings and a significant return on investment as demonstrated by the Carbon Management Plan.
• Maintaining compliance to legal and mandatory obligations by auditing, reporting and reviewing processes.

The certification offers an independent validation to the University’s operations which legitimises the environmental initiatives. It offers external customers, suppliers and interested parties confidence that environmental risks are being identified and addressed and that compliance is a key consideration.

For more information about the EMS process please contact Anna Glue (Sustainability Officer), or to report sustainability issues or achievements please contact Sustainability Services on ext. 6837 or via sustainability@reading.ac.uk.